The Best St. Louis Comedy Shows in August 2013

For those in search of laughter or curious about the goings-on of the comedy scene in St. Louis, we will be making monthly recommendations for shows in (and near) the city. From sure-thing hilarious to fingers-crossed, "Oh God! I hope this works" affairs, Funny Events is your connection to sketch, standup, improv and everything in between and out of the box.

This month offers you the chance to see the owner of a World Record in a basement bar, a drag show that encourages laughter and a couple of overweight, downright hilarious dudes.

A Standup Comedy Show with a Splash of Drag
Every Thursday at Novak's
9 p.m./Free

The bar formerly known as Novak's, but still known as Novak's until September 1 when the new owners take over, is encouraging you to laugh at a drag show. Every Thursday Dieta Pepsi and Erik Anker will be hosting a slew of comics who are brave enough to take the stage. My guess is if someone winds up in tears it'll be on account of a fit of laughter. Both comics and drag queens are known for their over-the-top personalities and overall rowdiness, and we all know what happens when you fight fire with fire... someone gets burned.

Jared Logan is one of those delightfully strange individuals who may even cross over to the weird category. He's eccentric, yes, but not uncomfortably so. He smooths over his snide observations with a jovial enthusiasm that will charm your socks off. My guess is if you sat next to him in middle school, one glance at his boredom doodles would lead you to a "what the...?" moment. In fact you can even see a couple of his drawings on his website.

As for his street cred, Jared has made his way through the comedy ranks, his half-hour Comedy Central special will be shot this year, he's a regular on VH1's Best Week Ever and he's a warm-up comic for both The Daily Show and Colbert Report.